The present invention relates generally to medical treatment systems and, more particularly, to therapy delivery systems and methods.
In certain age brackets, trauma is not an uncommon cause of death. Severe hypovolemia due to hemorrhage is a major factor in many of these deaths. Accordingly, resuscitation of hypovolemic shock remains an important topic. In addressing hypovolemic shock, vigorous restoration of intravascular volume remains the primary task of resuscitation. This task typically requires efforts to control the hemorrhage and to provide fluid resuscitation. Appropriate care of a trauma patient with hemorrhage requires balancing good electrolyte levels, maintaining systemic blood pressure, and minimizing leakage from the microvasculature.
If the initial injury is sufficiently great or the resuscitative efforts are too late or inadequate, the main contributor to damages is the hemodynamic failure itself. If a patient is resuscitated to a degree, however, then inflammatory damage may begin to be the dominant source of damage. In the latter case, the damage may lead to many difficulties and even death.
Among the difficulties, intraabdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) may occur as a result of the trauma and also may occur in septic patients. Edema secondary to resuscitation and leaky vasculature may cause the volume of the intraabdominal contents to increase thereby increasing the pressure on all abdominal contents. As the intraabdominal pressure (IAP) increases, perfusion to critical organs may be compromised and may result in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and death. A common technique for diagnosing the possible onset of MODS is by monitoring creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels to detect damage to the kidneys. In avoiding ACS or responding to its onset and in other situations, it may be desirable have a decompressive laparatomy—typically opening the fascia along a midline.
In both resuscitation and steps taken to address intraabdominal pressure, fluid management is important. It would be desirable to have a system and method to help with fluid management. It would be desirable to address fluid removable from the abdominal cavity and to further draw fluids at the interstitial and intracellular level. Furthermore, it would be desirable to have feedback on fluid removal. At the same time, it would be desirable to readily make available reduced-pressure treatment of tissue within the abdominal cavity, which involves the removal of ascites and other fluids.